75% of British mums find organising child’s party stressful

According to recent research from the children’s party organisers Les Enfants, three-quarters of UK mums find organising a child’s party stressful, while 26% feel pressured to arrange bigger and better parties each year.

Of the respondents, full-time working mothers find party organising most stressful and feel the most pressure to throw better parties each year, in comparison to stay-at-home mums or mums who work part time. Full-time working mums are also more likely to spend more on parties and theyÂ’’re least in favour of party bags.

The survey revealed that the average cost of a child’Â’s party is in the region of £200. Given that 64% of respondents said they hold birthday parties every year and 70% had more than one child, the costs start to add up. Most parents (44.9%) spend between £100 and £200 per party while 35.8% spend less than £100. However, 11% spend up to £300, just under 5% spend up to £500 and almost 3% are willing to fork out up to £1000 per party.

Other key survey findings were:
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Party bags: Despite environmental pressure to reduce waste and the vocal debates on parenting forums on this subject, the majority of mums are still in favour of party bags (53.2%). However, 34.6% only give them out because everyone else does and 12.2% donÂ’t give them out and believe them to be a waste of money and tend to be filled with junk.

Party food: Move over jelly and ice cream and make way for carrot sticks. The healthy eating message is making an impact with 82.1% of mums feeling that party food should offer a good mix of healthy options alongside regular party treats. Only 15% think parties should exclusively feature traditional –- and less healthy - party foods like cakes, ice cream, biscuits and sweets.

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Parental supervision: The age parents are willing to leave their child at a party without staying with them varies wildly, with ages ranging from three to eight. The majority (32.7%) feel comfortable leaving their child at a party from age five, with 26.3% happy to leave them at age four. But roughly the same number (24.4%) felt six was the right age with a surprising 7.8% and 6.3% saying age seven and eight respectively are the right ages.

Party venues: Despite the potential for ruining carpets, holding parties at home ranks in top spot with 39.1% while village halls or community centres come in second with 23.2% closely followed by indoor softplay centres (20.3%).

Who to invite: 61.3% feel that you should only invite your child’s close friends, but 35.8% feel it’s fairer to invite everyone in their class.

To help parents plan their next party, Les Enfants has created a free Complete Guide to Successful ChildrenÂ’s Parties, which can be downloaded from www.lesenfants.co.uk